Eternity
by Leonhart37
Summary: This is a Final Fantasy VIII fanfic work in progress


Eternity  
**Part 1:-  
Coepi Pres.Incipio**  
  
Squall felt like he had been walking for eternity. He came across a crevice that ended in an abyss of nothingness.  
He had defeated Ultimecia and saved the world from time-compression, but now he was alone and was going to die alone.  
He knelt down, and managed to glance upwards to see something drifting towards him. He opened his hand and allowed it to drift into his palm. Then he gave up.  
He collapsed on the edge of the crevice clasping a single white feather in his hand.  
By now Squall had started to come to when he realised he was being held by someone but Squall had a horrible feeling it was his mind playing tricks on him. He knew he had to try and look. He took an eternity to open his eyes but when he did he saw what he thought was a blue shawl, and he knew it could only belong to one person. Rinoa.  
Knowing this he opened his eyes fully and took in the wondrous form of the one thing he wanted to see.  
As the pair met the harsh grey wasteland transformed into a gorgeous meadow while flowers sprang up and began twirling round the entwined pair. He was no longer alone.  
"S'up Squall!"  
Zell's loud voice awoke Squall from his daydream with a jolt. He had relived that moment dozens of times in his head during the 6 months after it happened and each time the ending seemed more miraculous.  
It had been when Squall was lost in the time-compressed world Rinoa had to create to battle Ultimecia.   
He went over to Rinoa's room with Zell but the martial arts expert stopped him before he knocked, as he had done several times before. He was so used to doing this he forgot that she had been gone for the last 3 months. It was just a force of habit. He did it every morning and probably would till she returned from visiting her old friends in Timber.  
Every time he did this he felt a little more alone. His social behaviour had got much better but he was still a little withdrawn, especially when Rinoa wasn't around.  
He and Zell rounded up the rest of the gang and headed over to the cafeteria to discuss what they were going to do.  
"Awwwwwww Yes!, HOTDOGS!"  
Zell went charging over to the line with a child-like grin of excitement on his face while Selphie skipped over to join him with Irvine following behind her like a faithful little pet.  
Squall and Quistis sat down at a table and started talking, or rather Quistis started talking anyway.  
"I can tell you're missing her you know Squall", announced Quistis. "Hmmn" he agreed. You have no idea…  
"Squall, why don't you go down to Timber and visit her, we can take the Ragnarok"   
President Laguna of Esthar had granted Squall and his companions full ownership of the mammoth flagship, after all he kind of owed them after they saved the world and all, it could also prove to be helpful to defend the Garden should Galbadia attack again.  
Zell returned to the table with one hotdog in his mouth and four in his hands.  
"Hey Dincht, bet you can't fit all those hotdogs in your mouth at once", dared Irvine, tipping his hat.  
"You're on, cowboy!", yelled Zell in repliance.  
"Don't even think about it Zell, Irvine, you keep quiet", ordered Quistis. Zell did it anyway and managed to cram all four into his mouth and threw his hands into the air in celebration and looked as though he had just defeated a T-Rexaur single-handedly.  
His celebration was cut short when a bit of hotdog went down the wrong way and he started choking.  
Selphie leapt up and grabbed Zell in more of a bearhug then a hiemlinch manoeuvre and the piece of hotdog came flying out and landed in another students meal.  
"Hey Dincht!  
Watch where you're aiming that hotdog!"  
"Sorry" Zell managed to spit out.  
"Zell you idiot!, I told you not to do that!", yelled Quistis. Irvine tilted his hat over his face, trying to hide from her while Zell rubbed his throat and cowered from Quistis' fuming.  
"Alright everyone, let's calm down, Me and Quistis have come up with a plan. We are going to see Rinoa in Timber", announced Squall. I'll see her again…  
"Can we take the Ragnarok? Please?", asked Selphie.  
"Yes", answered Squall.  
"WHEY!!", cheered Selphie.  
"Awww, isn't my little pilot cute?", Irvine said as he hugged her.  
"So it's settled, we'll leave tomorrow, let's all go get in a couple of hours in down at the training arena. OK?" enquired Quistis. "I guess"  
"Sure."  
"Why not?"  
"Let's go!"  
One by one they entered the training arena where they were met by a buzzing noise and a mass of flittering blue shapes which turned out to be a swarm of large bite bugs.  
On their own a bite bug was no problem even for a beginner but when they attacked in swarms they could be quite dangerous.  
Zell was the first to enter and in his excitement, failed to hear the buzzing of the swarm and he charged in and had no time to cast a protect spell on himself when he finally noticed the monsters charging so he took damage quite quickly.  
He managed to crawl underneath the swarm and the first bug that came at him was met by a mach kick and squashed by one of his limit break attacks that was brought on by the initial damage Zell had taken.  
By this time Irvine had picked of three of the bugs with his Bismarck and the swarm was reduced to about 30.  
Squall knew what the bite bugs were like. They may not have been any real threat to an experienced group such as themselves but he knew they would not give up till they were victorious or dead. He realised they would all have to be killed, which could be quite exhausting, especially when it's a swarm of this size, and the companions weren't even prepared for a drawn out battle such as this one was going to be.  
Squall cast a firaga spell and incinerated five of them while Quistis froze four of them with a high ice spell and shattered the ice block with a heavy blow from her Red Scorpion, eliminating the four bugs inside.  
The 21 remaining bugs took a moment to regroup before charging down on Zell, who had been taken out of the battle after using up all of his energy on performing his limit break. Squall realised what was happening and tried to do something, he cast haste on himself, equipped his gunblade with explosive ammo, leapt among the swarm and struck one bug before quickly jerking the trigger, sending an explosive round into the already dead monster which took out 6 of it's surrounding friends and stopping the bugs charge.  
Using the explosive ammo had also damaged Squall as this type of round was also known as 'kamikaze ammo' as it could well take you out of the battle if you were to close to the explosion.  
Irvine rushed over and cast a low cure spell on Zell, so he was still able to use another limit break, who got up and began his full attack.  
He had twelve seconds to unleash all of his most powerful attacks to take out the last 14 of the bugs.  
He started with his weakest, a punch rush which damaged about 5 of them and moved on to a quickly delivered, powerful combo of two mach kicks, one heel drop and three booyas which took out the 5 damaged bugs and 2 others leaving the swarm with seven left. His final attack he chose was the meteor barret. As he began the attack his right fist began to glow and develop a fireball as it slowly moved towards the remnants of the swarm. As he got closer he sped up until he was a metre away and he moved like a bolt of lightning and the struck the bugs causing a blinding flash of white light which ended in silence as Zell hung in the air behind the bugs while a blanket of fire was spreading over the monsters. Zell held the fire in place as long as he could before collapsing and ending the attack. The swarm was defeated.  
Quistis rushed over and used her recover ability on the entire group as everyone congratulated Zell on such a great attack. Zell checked his personal battle meter and discovered that that encounter had advanced him almost four levels.  
"Well.  
Anyone want to continue?" Quistis asked.  
"HELL YEAH!" Zell answered.  
"NO!" Replied the others.  
"Well Mr.Dincht, unless you want to continue on your own, I suggest you get some rest like the rest of us, OK?"  
"Damn", muttered Zell, with his shoulders slumped in disappointment.   
  
'PING, PING, PING' Rang the intercom system.  
'Would Irvine Kinneas, Selphie Tilmitt, Zell Dincht, Quistis Trepe, and Squall Leonhart please report to the headmasters office, he is ready to see you now.'  
Quistis had made an appointment to see him so that they could inform him of the trip they were taking to Timber. Squall also needed to tell him something, but no one knew what.  
"Ah, Quistis, you wanted to see me?"  
"Yes Sir-"  
"Don't call me 'Sir', we know each other well enough for you to call me Cid now".  
"OK, 'Cid', the five of us were planning to go to Timber for a few days to see Rinoa, I just thought I ought to check with you first".  
"Sure, by all means, just make sure you say hello from me".  
"Of course".  
"Squall, I understand you needed to tell me something?"  
"Yes, I understand this may become as a bit of a shock to you all but I have been feeling a little overwhelmed by the responsibility of my position so-"  
Quistis had a slight incline as to what was coming next, they had been talking about it earlier.  
"From this point onwards…"  
Squall drew a breath-  
"I am no longer the commander of Balamb Garden, I am handing my position over to Headmaster Cid".  
"What?!".  
"Huh?".  
"Squall…?"  
"Why man…?"  
"Are you sure Squall?" Cid checked.  
"Yes".  
"Well, ok, I suppose there nothing I can do about changing your mind but I very much hope that one of you four will try".  
They all nodded in unison.   
"However, I think I should inform you that by the time you return there will be a surprise waiting here for you, Trabia Garden is up and running and very mobile an-  
"WHEY HEY!!!! TRABIA GARDEN IS OK! WHOOO!" Yelled Selphie, ecstatic that her former home was no longer crippled.  
"As I was saying before Ms. Tilmitt rudely interrupted me, Trabia Garden will be joining us in an attempt to recapture Galbadia Garden. By any means necessary."  
He paused to make sure there were no more outbursts from Selphie.  
"You see, Trabia Garden's new commander, Kandin Moore, contacted us yesterday and last night we came up with a military plan to attack Galbadia Garden, and you Squall, you will be co-commanding it".  
Squall whipped his head round to face the headmaster.  
"But headmast-"  
"Cid, my name is Cid".  
"Cid then,  
I just handed in my resignation as commander, I cannot accept it again". "It will just be for this one operation Squall, if you force me to, I will make it an order".  
"S-, Cid, I hope that by doing this you don't expect to change my mind, but if it is for this mission, then I suppose I have no choice, but only for the duration of the siege,  
I accept".  
  
Squall was sitting in his room, staring up at the ceiling and wondering how he had managed to relieve himself of the position of commander and then, moments later, having it all piled back on him, upon being ordered to accept a co-commander rank along side a Trabian commander whom he knew nothing about, to stage a siege he knew nothing about.  
Once again Squall's world of discipline, knowledge and organisation was tumbling in a tornado of fresh confusion.  
So many thoughts were racing though his mind, Rinoa, the siege, the new Trabian commander, Tai, and why Cid hadn't said anything about the siege earlier.  
His mind digested these thoughts, and we he came up empty he immediately drifted his thoughts towards Rinoa. Her carefree world, her eyes of innocence and hidden sorrow, her long, black, silky hair, how she always made him feel, like there were no longer any rules, that he wasn't bound by a system, that he was free, he was wanted and not just an inconvenience.  
Squall glanced over at his clock and realised he was late for a Cadet breifing. His intercom buzzed and he knew who it was straight away, as if she knew the exact moment he had remembered.  
Quistis.   
Her oh-so familier, whining, annoyed, scalding voice rang out over the intercom system.   
"Squall!, Where are you?, You were supposed to be here nearly two hours ago!"   
"Sorry Quistis, I guess I forgot"   
"You Forgot!, that is not a good enough excuse Squall, these poor cadets have been waiting down here for you for ages, they look upto you Squall, you are practically their idol for Odin's sake, you have let them down, I'm very disappointed in you Squall, very disappointed. I suggest you get down here right now and try to apologize to them."   
"Yeah, ok"  
"OK!, is that all you've got to say for yourself Squall!, I honestly don't know why I bother"  
"Damn, Quistis, I said I'm sorry, theres no need to ge-"  
The line went dead.  
  
  



End file.
